No one can say they've never at least heard of Arthur, the lovable aardvark-led series that has spent the last 25 years educating young kids about topics that can sometimes land them in hot water. Such as that time they touched on homosexuality with Mr. Ratburn and his non-chalaunt gay wedding. Now, however, it's time for that chapter of PBS Kids' book to close as it's official -- Arthur is wrapping up after Season 25.
The news broke via Variety. This beloved kids cartoon's cancelation, didn't come out of left field, though.
An episode of the Finding D.W. podcast, a podcast hosted by Arthur alum, Jason Szwimer, who played D.W. from 2002 to 2006, hinted at the series ending. While he wasn't associated with the show anymore, he spoke with Kathy Waugh, the creator of the long-running series.
It was then she explained the show wasn't in production anymore and that they had their wrap up party two years ago. This meant the series didn't have much time left as it was only a matter of time before their "new" episodes ran dry. She does believe the series could've continued and that PBS Kids is making a mistake to take the oldest kids animated series off of production and that it always felt evergreen to her.
“Arthur is no longer in production. We had our wrap party two years ago. I think [PBS] made a mistake, and I think Arthur should come back and I’m know I’m not alone in thinking they made a mistake. I don’t know if it was a ratings issue or if it felt like it needed to be retired. To me, it felt evergreen, like it was never going to end but it did end, we finished the last episode [of] Season 25 two years ago.”
This year was also the year that marked a less painful blow for adults and kids alike as the controversial PBS Kids series, Caillou, was also given the boot this year.
Arthur's final season will debut in winter 2022.